Lighting fixture suspension and attachment arrangement



1960 H. M. GERSTEL ET AL ,96

LIGHT ING FIXTURE SUSPENSION AND ATTACHMENT ARRANGEMENT Filed Aug. 26, 1958 INVENTO S 1944/943 G's asra nited States LIGHTING FIXTURE SUSPENSION AND ATTACHMENT ARRANGEMENT Filed Aug. 26, 1958, Ser. No. 757,244

8 Claims. (Cl. 248-343) The present invention relates to a lighting fixture and it particularly relates to a suspension and attachment arrangement for such lighting fixture.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a simple, readily attached inexpensively manufactured attachment system for a lighting fixture which has a universal quality and may be most readily associated with a wide variety of lighting fixtures and a wide variety of ceilings without the necessity of having separate and diiterent types of connection, suspension or attachment elements with each type of ceiling and each type of fixture.

Another object is to provide a simple, readily installed, unobtrusive, reliable lighting fixture attachment which may be readily associated with a Wide variety of lighting fixtures and a wide variety of ceilings or wall constructions, particularly with recessed and/ or elongated lighting receptacles, which will avoid the necessity of having a large number of special fixtures or attachments for each type of fixture and/or each type of ceiling.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed'description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most satisfactory according to one embodiment of the present invention to provide a novel plate or level attachment device which normally will be positioned interiorly of the ceiling construction and outside of the body of the pan or receptacle of the lighting fixture which will be adjustably mounted in position by a single screw and locator element readily accessible from and positioned upon the interior Wall of the lighting fixture.

Associated with this attachment there will be a slot or a plurality of slots in the side wall of the receptacle or metal container for the lighting fixture which will have a plurality of notches enabling a wide variety of attachments to be made with different thicknesses or types of ceilings and difierent widths, sizes and types of lighting fixtures.

In the preferred form the screw is accessible from the interior of the lighting fixture while the nut on the bolt will be held against rotation on the end thereof above the ceiling and outside of the pan or enclosures of the receptacle.

Desirably, the outer element of the suspension or attachment device will contact the interior of the ceiling at one end and project upwardly and obliquely toward the side wall of the receptacle with its end portion projecting into a slot both in the side wall of the receptacle and in the upper portion of the inside connection element.

The inside connection element on the other hand will have an inturned tongue preferably at its lower end which will lodge in one of the notches of the slot in the sides atent C Patented Dec. 20, 1960 of the receptacle so as to locate the correct clamping position of the attachment device.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a top perspective view partly broken away more clearly to show the interior construction with two slots being shown on each side without an attachment device being utilized and with another slot showing an attachment device in position against the interior of a ceiling as it would appear looking downwardly upon the lighting fixture receptacle when recessed into a ceiling.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view upon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing two attachment devices in position holding the fixture in proper position in respect to a ceiling into which the fixture has been recessed.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view upon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 upon an enlarged scale as compared to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top perspective view showing the manner in which the connection elements are attached together and assembled with the slot in the side of the fixture receptacle with the slot of the fixture receptacle being indicated in dot and dash lines, upon an enlarged scale as compared to Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view similar to Fig. 4 showing the accessible connection element on the interior of the lighting fixture receptacle with the exterior element removed and with only its end connection in position.

Referring to Figs. 1-5, there is shown an inverted receptacle pan A to receive the lighting fixture which is to be recessed inside the ceiling diagrammatically indicated at B. The fluorescent or other lighting elements or structures which are normally positioned inside the enclosure A are not shown.

The clamping device itself has a main outside element C which contacts the ceiling B at its lower end as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and at its upper end extends through the slot structure D.

The upper end of the exterior element C Where it projects through the slot D will be connected to the interior clamping element E by the bolt F.

Referring to the fixture A, this fixture A is shown as having a bottom face 10 and the sloping side walls 11 which project inside of the ceiling B. The ends of the side walls 11 are stepped as indicated at 12 and they have an angle member 13 which forms a socket to receivethe edges 14 of the ceiling structure B.

The problem is to hold the fixture pan A in position recessed inside the ceiling B without being compelled to use a separate attachment device for each type of ceiling and each type of fixture receptacle A.

The clamping device C, E, F associated with the notched slot D gives a truly universal clamping suspension or connection device readily accessible and readily applied which may be used with a wide variety of ceilings and fixtures.

First referring to Fig. 1, the slot D has an enlarged top portion 15 with a head 16 and a widened portion 17. Extending downwardly from the widened portion 17 is the elongated slot 18 terminating at 19 above the shoulder 12 and having a plurality of spaced adjustment and location notches 20 on each side of the slot 18.

The side portion 17 and the slot 18 are joined by the oblique or funnel-shaped mouth 21.

It will be noted that the head 16 of the slot D terminates substantially below the edge 22 of the bottom plate 10.

The main clamping element C has a relatively sharp bottom corner 23 which cuts into and wedges into the interior face 24 of the ceiling B.

It also has a long leg 25 which extends upwardly and converges or inclines toward the slope of the walls 11 of the fixture A. The long leg 25 terminates at 26 and turns into the connecting intermediate leg or portion 27 which inclines outwardly away from the slope of the wall 11 as best shown in Fig. 2.

At the bend 28 the element C then turns sharply inwardly as indicated at 29 and terminates in a narrow projecting portion 30 which extends through the narrow portion 18 of the slot D and terminates in a rather wide or hammerhead portion 31.

The portion 29 of the element C as shown in Fig. 3 has an opening 32 which receives the neck 33 of the shell 34 for holding the nut 35 and preventing rotation thereof.

The threaded shank 36 of the screw F will project through said opening 32 (see Fig. 3).

The enlarged head 31 will project inside of the relatively wide portion 37 of the slot 38 in the interior attachment element E which also has a narrow head extension 39. The wide extensions of the head 31 will extend beyond the wide portion 37 of the slot 38 and will be held in position thereby.

The interior element E has the main portion 40 which receives the slot 38, a bent portion 41 above the screw connection F and then an inturned portion 42 which has a narrow inturned end tab 43. This inturned end tab 43 cooperates with the notches 20 fitting into a desirable position in one of said notches so as to clamp the fixture together with the end 23 of the element C firmly pressed against the interior face 24 of the ceiling B.

Thus assembly may be made either by turning the element E or turning element C before final connection or before insertion of the pan A into the recess so that the enlarged head 31 will pass through the enlargement 17 of the slot D as well as through the large portion 37 of the slot 38 with the extension 39 permitting passage of one of the ends of the head 31 when the element E is at right angles to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The nut 35 will be held against rotation by the enclosure element 34 so that the fillister head 50 may be tightened up from the interior as shown in Fig. 2 after the installation has been made.

Before this occurs of course the assembled device C, E, F may be moved up and down in the notches 20 in the slot D until the proper notch 20 has been selected for insertion of the tab 43 which will assure a tight connection between the end 23 and the ceiling B.

This relatively simple attachment element C, E, F with the slot D gives an almost universal attachment and connection system for recess lighting fixtures.

It is not necessary to have a separate and distinct design of bracket for each type of pan, each type of fixture and each type of ceiling. The simple, readily assembled and readily manufactured device as shown in detail in Figs. 3, 4 and will permit attachment of practically all currently used lighting fixture receptacles.

It is readily accessible from the inside of the fixture as shown in Fig. 2 and may be readily adjusted in view of the spaced notches 20 and the slot D.

By loosening the bolt or screw F the fixture may be readily removed and the head 31 with the shell 34 will hold the device in position and prevent inadvertent disassembly or dismantling thereof and will also aid in the assembly operation.

The main parts C and B may be readily stamped out of rigid sheet metal while the bolt F and shell 34 may consist of standard parts.

While there has been herein described a preferred form of the invention, it should be understood that the same may be altered in details and in relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed:

What is claimed is: V

1. A lighting fixture connection and suspension arrangement for a lighting fixture having an inverted receptacle with an adjustment slot in the side thereof, said arrangement consisting of an interior plate element disposed in the slot in an adjusted position and an exterior elongated outwardly and obliquely downwardly extending enlargedheaded metal strip for clamping against the interior of a ceiling at one end and extending through the adjustment slot and engaging the interior element at the other enlarged-headed end and a connecting screw extending through the slot and attaching the plate element and strip together.

2. A lighting fixture connection and suspension arrangement for a lighting fixture having an inverted receptacle with an adjustment slot in the side thereof, said arrangement consisting of an interior plate element disposed in the slot in an adjusted position and an exterior elongated outwardly and obliquely downwardly extending enlargedheaded metal strip for clamping against the interior of a ceiling at one end and extending through the adjust- .ment slot and engaging the interior element at the other enlarged-headed end and a connecting screw extending through the slot and attaching the plate element and strip together, said interior element having an inturned tab to engage the sides of said adjusting slot at a predetermined position, said adjustment slot being provided with spaced notches to cooperate with said tab.

3. A lighting fixture connection and suspension arrangement for a lighting fixture having an inverted receptacle with an adjustment slot in the side thereof, said arrangement consisting of an interior plate element disposed in the slot in an adjusted position and an exterior elongated metal strip for clamping against the interior of a ceiling at one end and extending through the adjustment slot and engaging the interior element at the other end and a connecting screw extending through the slot and attaching the plate element and strip together, said metal strip having a narrow neck and enlarged head at its other end and said interior element having a slot receiving and holding said enlarged head.

4. A lighting fixture connection and suspension arrangement for a lighting fixture having an inverted receptacle with an adjustment slot in the side thereof, said arrangement consisting of an interior plate element disposed in the slot in an adjusted position and an exterior elongated outwardly and obliquely downwardly extending enlarged-headed metal strip for clamping against the interior of a ceiling at one end and extending through the adjustment slot and engaging the interior element at the other enlarged-headed end and a connecting screw extending through the slot and attaching the plate element and strip together, said screw being accessible for turning from the interior of the fixture and having a nut in a metal catch at the exterior of the fixture and means to carry said catch in the metal strip to prevent the nut from turning and becoming lost.

5. A lighting fixture connection, and suspension arrangement for a lighting fixture having an inverted receptacle with an adjustment slot in the side thereof, said arrangement consisting of an interior plate element disposed in the slot in an adjusted position and an exterior elongated outwardly and obliquely downwardly extending enlarged-headed metal strip for clamping against the interior of a ceiling at one end and extending through the adjustment slot and engaging the interior element at the other enlarged-headed end and a connection screw extending through the slot and attaching the plate element and strip together, said adjustment slot having a narrow lower portion with notched sides receiving the interior plate element and an upper enlarged head receiving the other end of the exterior strip.

6. A lighting fixture suspension and attachment arrangement for a fixture of the type having an elongated inverted receptacle pan with a flat elongated top portion and outwardly and downwardly extending oblique side walls and angularly bent terminal edge portion to engage a ceiling, said arrangement including vertical adjustment slots in said side walls having a wide transverse slot at the upper end of each of said slots and a plurality of closely spaced narrow transverse notches extending along the lower portion of the adjustment slots; the combination therewith of an outwardly obliquely extending bracket contacting the ceiling and having enlarged T head with a narrow connecting portion slidable in said adjustment slot and a short adjustment element having an opening receiving said T head and means disposed in said narrow-notches to fix the bracket position and means to clamp the short element and bracket together.

7. The arrangement of claim 6, said last mentioned means including a bolt extending through said adjustment slot with a slotted head on the inside of the pan and a nut mounted on the bracket on the outside of the pan.

8. The arrangement of claim 6, said bracket and element both being bent angularly below said clamping means respectively toward the exterior and interior faces of the oblique side wall of the pan and said element having an outturned tongue disposed in one of said narrow slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,204,858 Gest Nov. 14, 1916 2,305,015 Langer Dec. 15, 1942 2,357,787 Windsheimer Sept. 5, 1944 2,626,772 Flora Ian. 27, 1953 

